Faith and Main Consultants Report

Within the last year, ECRH contracted with Faith & Main to study the market perception of their women’s services. The following is a summation of the findings of Faith & Main.
Interest in a Women’s Center Crosses County Lines
• 36% of women in the service area would travel across county lines to receive excellent women’s health services
• 72% of women in Chestnut County would consider using the women’s services of East Chestnut Regional Medical Center
• Women in all counties were most interested in these services:
o Breast care
o General gynecology services
o Female doctors
o Services in one area
o Physicals for women

Interest in a Heart Care and a Health Information Line
• A physician approved source of information.
• A nurse help line that could be a resource for women’s care in heart health as well be a source for health navigation.

Clear Expectations Regarding Getting Appointments with Their Primary Care Physician
• Women expect same-day appointments
o In the collar counties to Chestnut County, women ranked this in the top 28.7%
o Chestnut County women ranked this in the top 37.7%
o Expectation of same-day appointments ranked highest for women of childbearing age
• Percent expecting same-day appointments
o 42.9 % of Chestnut County women of childbearing age
o 31.3% of collar county women of childbearing age

• Willingness to be Seen by a Nurse Practitioner Overwhelmingly “Yes”
o 75.7% of Chestnut County women of childbearing age
o 76.1% of collar county women of childbearing age

Respondents Expressed How Health Care Could Be Improved
• 24% of all Chestnut County women, and 26% of all collar county women named adding more primary care doctors and more children’s care with urgent care outranking any other single topic.

Respondents of Childbearing Age Widely Represented in Study:
• 86% of women respondents of childbearing age in Chestnut County had children under the age of 18
• 76% of women respondents of childbearing age in the collar counties had children under the age of 18
Willingness to be seen by nurse practitioner was viewed as favorable by those in this study.
This data from Faith & Main will be used to ramp up improvements in the women’s services for ECRH.
Strategic Plan Goals for the Upcoming Year
• Women’s service line improvement
o Increase obstetrical deliveries by 20% over 3 years
o Establish nurse navigation system for the entire system
o Facility improvement and development for women’s services
o Improve access standards for women’s care
• Assist in the marketing of the implementation of the consultant’s report regarding women’s services
• Oncology Center grand opening
• Mature the retail strategy with the primary care employed physician group
• Assess the market impact of the lawsuits and develop marketing strategy to counteract the negative impact if decisions are made against ECRH
• Aggressively recruit new physicians to reduce the average age of the medical staff and strategically enhance service line development
• Use lean management processes to correct service issues found in the ED. Improve ED visits by 6%.
o Review physician contracts to enhance physician service performance
o Investigate the fast-track ED concept
o Implement the free-standing ED strategy
• Abandon the Accountable Care Organization (ACO)
• Re-establish relationships with regional emergency medical services to raise the utilization of the medical air service. Growth goal is to get back to the previous level of utilization within 18 months
• Decision to close the regional burn unit and let those cases go to the academic medical center
• Implement the decision to close the behavioral health services of ECRH
• Implement the decision to close AH

CEO Instruction to Marketing Team
The marketing department for East Chestnut Regional Health System will be asked to step up their game to develop a marketing plan for the regional health system. The CEO has had some concerns regarding the ability of the marketing department to keep up with the rapidly moving strategic environment that he has created. Therefore, he established a timeline for the department to develop a system wide marketing plan over the next six weeks. The VP of marketing has been in all the senior leadership cabinet meetings, so she is aware of all the details. Therefore, the learning curve regarding the institutional strategic goals is of no concern.
The following are elements that the CEO wants in the marketing plan.

1. A consultant, Faith & Main, was used to test the impression of the women in the key service markets for East Chestnut Health System. The summary of the consultant’s report can be seen above. The survey covered all aspects of women’s care. The marketing department will need to develop a marketing campaign to match the recommendations of the consultant’s report.
   a. It is recognized that the age span for communicating with women consumers will be quite variable. On one end of the spectrum, you have the younger childbearing age women, next are the women that are middle aged followed by women that are pre-elderly then those that are elderly. Therefore, a communication plan using social media to conventional marketing techniques will be required.
2. A communication plan will need to be developed for the closure of the regional burn center as well the exiting the accountable care organization and the closure of the behavioral health hospital.
3. A communication plan will be needed to deal with the closure of AH.
4. A branding strategy will need to be developed to overcome the current weak brand identity that is in place for the combined ECRH entities.
5. Develop marketing strategy for new physicians being recruited to the system. The ideal situation would be to have a common identity for all marketing material. In the past the marketing material has been local hospital based.
6. Develop marketing plan for the Primary Care Medical Home strategy as well the retail strategy for the primary care network.
7. Proactively lay out a framework of communication to manage any negative outcomes of the legal matters that the health system is now confronting.
   a. The Federal Trade Commission investigation of the anti-trust issues for ECRH.
   b. The predatory collections occurred as part of NMHC. It is felt that this case will force these rural hospitals to move to a taxable entity with the loss of their not-for-profit status. The development of this problem came about due to poor leadership within the consortium.
8. Develop advertising campaign for the opening of the new oncology center.
9. Develop advertising campaign for the ED/Trauma services of ECRH.